Sat, Jan 5th - 9:24AM

LESSON 2

There are two views of sanctification held today. They both aim at the same result; the deliverance from sin and victory in this life. The processes for reaching those ends is very different. The cause of this difference is due to a mistaken view of the work of Christ on Calvary, as taught by the Apostle Paul.

The importance of good understanding of what Christ accomplished on the Cross cannot be over- estimated. What we are in Christ, what we have in Him, what He is and has in us, our acceptance of the Father in Christ, our hope for the coming ages, are all secured for us through the Cross. We can only come into the enjoyment of these by understanding Calvary. I Cor. 15:3 - Jesus, as our Representative and as the living Head of the New Creation, "died unto the sin" - Romans 6:10; and "we died with Christ" to the sin - Romans 6:2, 8 R.V. As Adam was the head of the race in its fallen condition; so Christ, "the last Adam" - I Cor. 15:45, is the Head of the N.C. In first Adam, all men died to God and righteousness and became "dead in trespasses and sins," because they inherited his sinful nature; so, in Christ, all who believe on Him died to the sin in His death and were made alive forevermore through His resurrection. As a propitiation, "Christ died for (because of) our sins." Rom. 5:6, 8 - He "died for (in behalf of) the ungodly," He "died for us". Jesus Christ took the place of the ungodly, died the death that we should have died as a guilty sinner, a condemned criminal. He bore the shame that was on the sinner and by tasting "death for every man," He appeased the wrath of God. He made it possible for God to be just and still justify the ungodly who would believe.

This identification is the basis of faith for deliverance from the dominion of indwelling sin all these verbs concerning our identification with Christ are in the past or past perfect tense in the Greek. They speak of what has already taken place. They all tell us of the finished work of Christ. It is very important that we see this fact. There remains nothing for us to do but to believe what God says and, by faith, "possess our possessions." Also notice, that in almost every verse in Romans 6,7, the word "the" is used in the Greek when speaking of sin. Therefore, we will use it also in showing our identification with Christ.

1. Romans 6:10 - Christ "died unto the sin once." Then He must be forever dead to it. This is a foundation fact.

2. Romans 7:4 - He also died to law - It can have no more power over Him. He is outside and above the jurisdiction of the law entirely.

3. Rom. 6:8 - We died with Christ - That is, we died to the sin - Rom. 6:2; as truly as He did. Compare also Col. 2:20 and II Tim. 2:11. If Christ died unto the sin and we died in Him and with Him to the sin then we, too, must be forever dead to sin. Our relation to the sin is the same as that of Jesus Christ. If Christ died to law and we died with Him, then we too must be forever dead to law as well as He. This is just what the Word declares. We "were made dead to the law through the body of Christ ... we have been discharged from the law, having died" in Christ when He died- Rom. 7:4-6. We are liberated from the reign of law as well as the reign of sin. We are not opposed to law; we are "not without law to God," the law of love - I Cor. 9:21; Rom. 13:10. We can "serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter" - Rom. 7:6; "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" - Gal. 5:1.

4. Gal. 6:14 - In Christ's death, we were crucified unto the world and the world unto us - a double crucifixion, a complete separation - We are forever done with the world, and the world is forever done with us. This is why there is no longer fellowship between us and the world. The world is dead while it lives; but, we are alive forevermore in the N.C., because we died and arose again with Christ. I John 4:17 - "Because as He is, so are we in this world."

5. "Our old man was crucified with Him" - Romans 6:6 R.V. This is a fact already. He was crucified. "I have been crucified," says Paul. Therefore, the old man, " the old Adamic "I" is dead. We are simply to believe it. We simply need to believe what God says and treat the old man as dead. The apostle says, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" - Romans 6:11. This reckoning becomes real in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, as we continue to believe God.

6. "We were buried therefore with Him" - Romans 6:4 R.V. Then we should treat the old man as forever in the grave. For the old Adam, with all his belongings of sin and sickness, died and was buried with Christ.

7. We also, were raised up together with Christ - Rom. 6:5; Col. 3:1; Eph. 2:6. We are truly as alive as He. The "new man," is alive unto God forevermore. "Because as He (Christ) is, so are we in this world" - I John 4:17. John 6:57- "He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me" John 14:19 - "Because I live, ye shall live also" - Jesus took all the journey for us, and we also took it with Him. By simple faith in these facts, we exclaim: "Where He is, we are; and as He is, we are."

8. We are also justified from the sin. Rom. 3:24; 5:1. "For he that hath died is justified from sin" - Romans 6:7 R.V. When Christ died, "He died unto sin once" - Romans 6:10. In that death, He was justified from the sin as our Head. For He had no sin in Himself to die to, nor to be justified from. He was always and only holy. He "who knew no sin," God made or counted sin in our stead - II Cor. 5:21. God counted His innocent holy Son to be the very vile wretched object that we really are by nature, and He was crucified under that reckoning. We died to sin and were justified from it in Him. His death was our death. His justification was our justification. Therefore, sin has no more claim upon us. Sin is a usurper, an intruder, an outlaw, a condemned criminal. Assert your rights in Christ and take your liberty in Him, "for sin shall not have dominion over you" - Romans 6:14.

Comment (6)

Sat, Nov 3rd - 7:18PM

PAULINE SANCTIFICATION

LESSON 1

Many say that the Adamic nature, the carnal mind, the sin, inbred sin, the impurity of the heart, the flesh and the old man are exactly the same. "Flesh" can mean animals, meat and mankind. Paul uses it mostly in reference to our human nature. The word "carnal" in Scripture means "fleshly." "The carnal mind means "the fleshly mind." They both come from the Greek word "sarks." In Rom. 8:6,7 - "carnal mind" and "carnally minded" are wrong translations. It should literally read "the mind (or purpose) of the flesh." The carnal mind never means sin or inbred sin. Paul distinguishes clearly between sin and flesh. In Rom. 7:17,18 - He says that the sin dwells in the flesh. By sending His Son, God "condemned the sin in the flesh." The carnal mind is not "eliminated."

It is very important that we see the difference between flesh and indwelling sin. Because "flesh" (or carnality) and "sin" have been treated as the same thing. There has been a lot of confusion, embarrassment and discouragement. They are not the same; they are very, very different. Sin weakened and corrupted the flesh. In Rom. 6:7,14,18 we learn that when we receive by faith our redemption rights, we are made free from sin. In Rom. 6:10,12,13 - the flesh is kept in the death state by faith in the indwelling Holy Spirit - Gal. 5:16.

So what is the truth about the "old man"? The carnal mind, inbred sin and the old man have been used interchangeably. Gal.. 2:20 R.V. say, "I have been crucified"; the apostle says that "I," "me," "the body"and " the old man" have been put to death or crucified. He says in Gal. 6:14 R.V. - "The world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world"; Rom. 8:10 says, "The body is dead because of sin." Rom. 6:6 R.V. - "Our old man was crucified with Him (Christ)". He also declares that "me" and "my flesh" are the same in: Rom. 7:18 - "In me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing."

Therefore, we can conclude that the flesh is the old man. "I" of Gal. 2:20 and "flesh" of Rom. 7:18; 8:3 and "old man" of Rom.6:6 are identical. We can identify him by his nature. In Eph. 4:22 R.V. - He "waxeth corrupt"; In Rom. 7:14 - He is "carnal," or fleshly ; In Rom. 7:18 - He is bad; In Rom. 6:19 - He is weak; In Rom.7:14,23 - He is a slave "sold under sin," under "captivity to the law of sin"

"SIN" made man like this. Rom. 7:20 says, "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me". Rom. 5:12says, "By one man sin entered into the world". Sin is not the same as the flesh or the carnal mind or the old man or the old Adam. God "condemned sin in the flesh" by sending His Son and making Him a sin offering. In Col. 3:8,9, the old man can be identified by his deeds and in Gal. 5:19-21, by "the works of the flesh and by - I Cor. 3:3.

It is possible to be filled with the Spirit and still find yourself in any of the above things except if you are being kept by the power of God. The old man, or carnal mind, is never eliminated. He was judicially crucified with Christ, and is held in the death state as we reckon with God on this fact and walk in the Spirit or are occupied with Christ.

Remember - Rom. 6:18,22 - in sanctification we are made free from sin. But our human nature is weak and may fall at any time; but Christ comes in and becomes our constant sanctification - our victory over sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil - because "Christ liveth in me" - Gal. 2:20. The Holy Spirit takes control of our old self-like and the Christ-life in us - Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:16.

God's definition of the old man and of sin are not the same. In Rom. 6:6 R.V. - "Our old man was crucified with Him (Christ)" - That was judicial and provisional. In Eph. 4:22; Col.: 3:9 - We put him off by faith - This is experimental. We nowhere read of sin being crucified or put off. In Rom. 8:3 - sin was condemned in the flesh. In Rom. 6:7 R.V. - We have been "justified from sin."In Rom. 6:10 - We died unto sin in Christ. That was judicial and provisional. By reckoning on that settled fact, we are made experimentally free from sin; but sin is not taken out. It is not said that we died to the old man. Instead, it is written that the old man died. In Rom. 6:6, our old man is distinguished from the body or bulk of sin.

In Rom. 7:17 and 8:3, flesh and sin are distinguished. In Rom. 8:10, the body is distinguished from sin.